CSU students face another fee increase

Chancellor says tuition will rise if the state does not come through

California State University students and their families could see a 9 percent increase in tuition next fall unless the state grants the university a substantial boost in funding, CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said Monday.

At its meeting Wednesday, the CSU governing board is expected to vote to ask Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature to for $2.4 billion for 2012-13, a $330 million increase over the current budget. If the university does not get the funding, tuition would rise by $498 a year, to $5,970 under the funding plan. Tuition already has risen by 29 percent since the start of the 2010-11 academic year.

“We are certainly hoping this is a nonissue,” said Margaret Lutz, a spokeswoman for California State University San Marcos. “If the Legislature reinvests in the university, that… 9 percent increase goes away.”

Tuition already has been raised by 29 percent since the start of the 2010-11 academic year.

Faced with huge budget challenges, state officials cut funding to CSU and the University of California by $650 million each for the current year. Each system faces an additional $100 million cut next month if midyear revenue projections are not met.

“It would be wonderful if they could manage to get a sufficient budget so we don’t have a tuition increase… ” said Don Barrett, president of the faculty union at CSUSM. “But my understanding is that that’s unlikely.”

Reed, who spoke on a conference call with reporters from around the state, said much of the increased funding would go toward things such as “very urgent facilities maintenance needs,” such as updating neglected classroom and laboratories and for instructional equipment that needs to be replaced.

Elliott Hirshman, San Diego State University’s president, added that in addition to addressing those needs, the funds would be used to cover rising employee health care costs, grant employee raises and allow for some enrollment growth in the face of strong demand.

“My emphasis is that these are core elements central to the university’s health,” Hirshman said.

“I’m not really surprised, but I’m disappointed,” she said. “I’m using loans. I’m already in debt. I’ll just be farther in debt. There’s nothing to do about but protest, and I don’t think that’s done any good.”

Steep increases in tuition were among the issues demonstrators protested last week with informational pickets on all 23 CSU campuses. Those protests were organized by the California Faculty Association, the union that represents the system’s professors, who are also upset with Reed’s decision to withhold negotiated raises in 2008-9 and 2009-10 and what they call his “misguided priorities.”

The university notes that those raises spelled out in a contract that allowed for them to be rescinded if revenue fell.

The labor agitation was one of the issues Reed addressed in the conference all. Although the union has scheduled a one-day strike at two campuses Thursday — Dominguez Hills and East Bay — Reed insisted that most teachers on the two campuses will show up and teach their classes.